1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooker, and more particularly, to device and method for controlling a heater in a cooker.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a cooker, such as a gas oven and the like, is provided with a plurality of heaters for heating and cooking food, a system for supplying and cutting off a power to the heater, and control means for controlling the system. And, since a rated power and a required cooking time period are preset for each of cooking courses, if a user selects one of the cooking courses, the heaters are operated to meet the preset rated power and the cooking time period, once the user selects the cooking course. A related art cooker with four heaters will be explained with reference to FIG. 1.
The heaters HTR1xcx9cHJR4 are connected in parallel between a power supply terminal and a ground voltage. Bach of the power supply terminals to the heaters HTR1xcx9cHTR4 is a relay RY1xcx9cRY4 connected in series to each of the heaters. That is, if the first relay RY1 is turned on, a power is supplied to the first heater HTR1, to put the first heater into operation, if the second relay RY2 is turned on, the power is supplied to the second heater HTR2, to put the second heater into operation, and a likely, the third relay RY3 controls a power supply to the third heater HTP3, and the fourth relay RY4 controls a power supply to the fourth heater HTR4. Though not shown, there is controlling means for controlling turn on/off of the relays RY1xcx9cRY4. That is, the controlling means determines a power consumption rate of the present cooking, for controlling operation of the relays RY1xcx9cRY4. The determination of the power consumption rate of the cooking and the controlling of the relays RY1xcx9cRY4 at the controlling means are done with reference to preset values. That is, the cooking control is carried out according to the preset value assuming that the power consumption at each of the heaters are a rated power consumption. For an example, if the rated power consumption of each of the heaters HTR1xcx9cHTR4 is 1000W, and the preset cooking value is 3 min. at 4000W, requiring operation of the four heaters HTR1xcx9cHTR4 for 30 min, the relays RY1xcx9cRY4 are turned on, to apply currents to the heaters HTR1xcx9cHTR4, and if the preset cooking value is 10 min, at 4000W, the four relays are operated for 10 min. However, the heaters are not always required to be operative at the rated power consumption. For an example, the heaters may not be operative at 4000W, but approx. 3800W or exceeding the 4000W. Thus, there may be deviations of the operative power, which means that the operative power does not meet a required heating condition, that deteriorates a quality of cooking. For an example, if a heater with xc2x15% deviation is used in a 5000W oven cooking, an actual power deviation will be xc2x1250W. That is, for a high power model with 4000W and over, a cooking time period of 30 sec., a xc2x15% cooking time period of 10 min. cooking time period, influences to cooking very much, wherein a less/more heating than required caused by a power deviation for the time period deteriorates a quality of the cooking.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to device and method for control a heater in a cooker that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide device and method for controlling a heater in a cooker, which permits to compensate a cooking time adjustment for a deviation of a heater operation power.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in pal will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the device for controlling a heater in a cooker includes a plurality of heaters, a relay part for supplying/cutting off a power applied to the heaters, a current detecting part for detecting a current value applied to the heaters, and a controller for controlling the relay part according to the current value detected at the current detecting part and a preset current value, to adjust a preset heater operation time period for the present cooking.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a heater in a cooker having a plurality of heaters, and a cooking time period and a required power preset therein for each cooking, including the steps of (a) operating the heaters consistent to the cooking time period and the required power preset for the presently selected cooking, (b) detecting a current required for operating the heaters, (c) compensating the cooking time period according to the detected current and a preset current, and (d) controlling operation of the heater to be consistent to the compensated cooking time period.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide farther explanation of the invention as claimed.